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Address to the Greeks

Tatian

Chapter 27

About this work

Tatian attacks Greek claims to cultural and philosophical superiority, defends Christian teaching about God, creation, resurrection, and ethics, and argues for the antiquity of biblical wisdom.

Author: Tatian
Date: c. AD 165–175
Origin: Rome or the eastern Mediterranean
Genre: Apology

The Christians are Hated Unjustly.

And if you adhere to their teaching, why do

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you

fight

against

me

for

choosing

such

views

of

doctrine

as

I

approve

?

Is

it

not

unreasonable

that

,

while

the

robber

is

not

to

be

punished

for

the

name

he

bears

,

but

only

when

the

truth

about

him

has

been

clearly

ascertained

,

yet

we

are

to

be

assailed

with

abuse

on

a

judgment

formed

without

examination

?

Diagoras

was

an

Athenian

,

but

you

punished

him

for

divulging

the

Athenian

mysteries

;

yet

you

who

read

his

Phrygian

discourses

hate

us

.

You

possess

the

commentaries

of

Leo

,

and

are

displeased

with

our

refutations

of

them

;

and

having

in

your

hands

the

opinions

of

Apion

concerning

the

Egyptian

gods

,

you

denounce

us

as

most

impious

.

The

tomb

of

Olympian

Zeus

is

shown

among

you

,

though

some

one

says

that

the

Cretans

are

liars

.

Your

assembly

of

many

gods

is

nothing

.

Though

their

despiser

Epicurus

acts

as

a

torch

-

bearer

,

I

do

not

any

the

more

conceal

from

the

rulers

that

view

of

God

which

I

hold

in

relation

to

His

government

of

the

universe

.

Why

do

you

advise

me

to

be

false

to

my

principles

?

Why

do

you

who

say

that

you

despise

death

exhort

us

to

use

art

in

order

to

escape

it

?

I

have

not

the

heart

of

a

deer

;

but

your

zeal

for

dialectics

resembles

the

loquacity

of

Thersites

.

How

can

I

believe

one

who

tells

me

that

the

sun

is

a

red

-

hot

mass

and

the

moon

an

earth

?

Such

assertions

are

mere

logomachies

,

and

not

a

sober

exposition

of

truth

.

How

can

it

be

otherwise

than

foolish

to

credit

the

books

of

Herodotus

relating

to

the

history

of

Hercules

,

which

tell

of

an

upper

earth

from

which

the

lion

came

down

that

was

killed

by

Hercules

?

And

what

avails

the

Attic

style

,

the

sorites

of

philosophers

,

the

plausibilities

of

syllogisms

,

the

measurements

of

the

earth

,

the

positions

of

the

stars

,

and

the

course

of

the

sun

?

To

be

occupied

in

such

inquiries

is

the

work

of

one

who

imposes

opinions

on

himself

as

if

they

were

laws

.

Notes

73
[Athenagoras, Embassy, cap. ii., infra.]
74
In Crete.
75
Comp. Tit. i. 12. Callimachus is probably the author referred to, through others express the same opinion respecting the Cretans.
76
Accommodating himself to the popular opinions, through fear.